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Review Summary

Strongly recalling the film noir feel and labyrinthine plot twists of The Usual Suspects (1995), this German production featuring an all-English cast is a madcap caper flick about a quartet of dull-witted would-be bank robbers. The film opens with the police surveying the bloody aftermath of a botched robbery. The sole survivor, Jo Simpson (Claire Skinner), is carted off not by the cops -- to the surprise of Inspector Badger (John Benfield) -- but by the ultra-secret Cyclops Institute, where she is interrogated. Piece by piece, the investigators learn about her three accomplices, Eddie (Rhys Ifans) and Ian (David Schneider), two young losers who were obsessed with becoming famous, and the older, more experienced con man Michael (John Hurt). The investigators also learn about the mysterious way in which the criminals get caught up in schemes not of their own making, by way of an anonymous package containing a videotape and blueprints of the bank. It is eventually revealed that Simpson's memory is not as reliable as it might appear. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi